It was born in New Orleans more than 100 years ago. It spent its adolescence in Chicago and now calls the whole world its home. Jazz has been called America’s greatest cultural achievement and the purest expression of American democracy. As Ken Burns’ 10-part documentary sparks new enthusiasm for jazz, in Iowa, the style beats on through radio shows, festivals and concerts.For the month of January, PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) is spending 18 hours of air-time enriching Americans with 100 years of music history.Dave Becker, program director at WOI, a classical station in Central Iowa that carries a jazz program, offered his opinions about the documentary, though only half of the series has been aired so far.”I’m thrilled that it’s on but [jazz is] a sprawling music,” Becker says. “It would be tough to please everyone that knows the music.”Jazz has always displayed a strong showing in certain urban areas. New York City could very well be the headquarters of jazz while Chicago, Kansas City and New Orleans have always had very strong scenes. However, the genre is expanding even more.According to Jazz enthusiast and keyboardist Bryan Nichols, player in the now defunct Ames jazz band, Cornbread, jazz is expanding even more.”The great thing about jazz is there are more hot spots now,” Nichols says. “There are more regional scenes popping up that are keeping the music alive.”But what about in Iowa?Every summer, Iowa City hosts the “Iowa City Jazz Festival.” The festival has quickly gained attention since its inception in 1991 and in the last three years has had an average attendance of 25,000. In 2000, the festival was sponsored by the Iowa City Gazette and KCRG TV9.Des Moines has an annual jazz festival as well. However, last year’s “Greater Des Moines Good Times Jazz Festival” was canceled for “circumstances beyond our control,” according to the festival’s Web site. But the festival has hosted some pretty big names in its history.Being a smaller state, Iowa has quite possibly some of the healthiest scenes for jazz music. KCCK, based out of Cedar Rapids, is the only all-jazz station in Iowa. It is also the smallest full-time jazz station in America. So, while Iowa doesn’t have the population or diversity of an urban city, the state seems to be trying to make jazz as widely available to Iowans as possible. This summer, WOI doubled their jazz programming during the week with a special Friday slot that features jazz from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. So far, the response has been well-received, Becker says, but they won’t really know how it’s affected the station for another year.”We are going to give the extra jazz a try,” Becker says. “The folks who like jazz are pleased.”Tonight, the radio station will air a 90-minute live performance hosted by on-air personnel Curt Snook from the Maytag Auditorium. The show will coincide with the jazz documentary airing on PBS. Snook also wrote “The Historical Record: Jazz In Iowa” for use on the PBS special’s Web site.According to Snook, Central Iowa always had the potential to have an exploding jazz scene because the “traveling music” was a direct route between St. Louis and Minneapolis and Kansas City and Chicago. In fact, Becker describes the movement of jazz as “literally coming up the river.” However, Iowa was never one of the principal areas of musical experimentation.James Bovinette, head of the ISU jazz ensembles, believes everyone should recognize that jazz is an African-American art. He also feels that Iowa is not well-equipped to understand other cultures of music.He also says the reason jazz hasn’t caught on in Des Moines enough to have its own regional scene is because most people leave Iowa for jobs after they graduate, thus lowering the demographic of 20- to 40-year-olds, the most prominent listeners of jazz.”The biggest market for music is under 20 years old,” Bovinette says. “To most youths music is a viewing thing. However, jazz is more of a listening art. When you listen to jazz you can close your eyes and be moved by it.”Jazz may never regain the mainstream place it had in the 1930s because most people don’t take time to understand the genre’s history and the skill it requires to play the music. “You’ve got to be a virtuoso,” Becker says. “You’ve got to know the history of jazz to have a full understanding of the sounds you can create. The whole idea is to create something on the spot with other musicians and still communicate that to the audience.”Nichols believes that some jazz musicians are sorely mistaken by asking for special privileges just because of the music they play. He believes jazz musicians have to work just as hard promoting their music as they do playing it.”You can play good-quality music but you just have to promote it,” Nichols says. “You have to work equally hard. You can listen to it because it sounds good but you have to make yourself heard.” Even in an era of disposable pop culture, Becker believes jazz won’t be disappearing.”There’ll always be a place for jazz in America and the world,” Becker says. “Folks will always know that rock is interesting, but jazz will be there when these people are looking for something else because the best part of jazz is that it’s timeless.”In February, IPTV (Iowa Public Television) will be showing a series of shows from 1979 that were performed at the M-Shop, Becker has described these tapes as “amazing to see.” However, the M-Shop still hosts many jazz shows, picking up the hot national acts when they can. There are also many places in Des Moines that have jazz nights, including Spaghetti Works, which hosts a big band every Monday. Java Joe’s also has two big jazz nights a month. However, there are no full-time jazz clubs in Des Moines.In the earlier days of jazz, according to Snook, there were as many as six grand theaters for jazz artists to perform. Unfortunately, the only still standing is Hoyt-Sherman Place. Opportunities for Iowans to see a great deal of live jazz used to be much wider.These days, high schools and college universities carry most of the jazz scene in Iowa. WOI recently interviewed a band director from Sioux City who heads three big band jazz ensembles at his school.However, Bovinette believes that although jazz competitions are the biggest things in high school, they shouldn’t be exploited in that way.”In Iowa it’s a big competition, and it’s really missing the mark,” Bovinette says. “Jazz isn’t supposed to be a football game.”But Bovinette also believes that with the world of jazz readily available via the Internet, the first American music form will always have a place in any kind of regional setting.”The music of jazz is available to you right now on the computer with MP3s,” Bovinette says. “The history of jazz is available to you right now on the Internet.”Jazz’s future seems to be in a healthy standing not only in Iowa but also in the rest of America. It may not be apparent to the average music fan, but jazz is thriving. The sounds that started in the city of Mardi Gras have expanded as far as the Middle East and jazz will only continue to thrive. In fact, Becker believes that although the fiery, creative side of the music has passed, there is still room for a lot of potential in the music itself.”Curt [Snook] was telling me about a jazz conference where he saw a middle-eastern jazz band playing with completely different instruments like an oud [Arab string instrument],” Becker says. “It was amazing hearing an entire different culture making their own music. It’s reaching out to the rest of the world.”With technology putting jazz at the fingertips of curious listeners and more regional hot spots popping up and reaching out, jazz may very well be in a better state then it ever was when it was at the foreground of music in the 1930s.”If it just becomes a museum exhibit, it will wither and fade,” Becker says. “But it’s not. What we have here in Iowa is a strong tradition of literacy and education. As long as we prize education there will always be a place for jazz in Iowa.”